. Elise’s reply:
LYSM. Love You So Much. Did Rachel know that one? Janet liked to test her every so often.
Rachel was still in with Neil Perry but Gill had disappeared. No Lee or Kevin either; it was getting late but they always worked late on a murder. Kevin had left his desk in a right mess. There was a stapler on the floor nearby and a whiff of booze in the air. Had someone been spicing up their brew with a drop of the hard stuff? If Gill found out, they’d be off the syndicate so fast their feet wouldn’t touch the floor.
Janet drank some juice from the carton she kept in the fridge and checked her e-mails. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d been totally alone in the office. It felt spooky. Like the Marie Celeste. Tired, she told herself, that’s all. She logged off and washed her cup. The tap made a clanking sound which startled her and brought a rash of gooseflesh to her arms.
When her phone rang, she was halfway downstairs, her footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell. Elise.
‘Hi,’ Janet answered. Only ten o’clock. Had they not been able to find the party? Had they had enough?
‘Mum.’ Elise’s voice was high with panic. ‘Mum, it’s Olivia. I don’t know what to do. I can’t wake her up. Mum, please.’
Shock riveted Janet to the spot. She could hear noises in the background, voices, more distantly the thud of a bass line. A shout of laughter.
‘Where are you?’ Janet said.
‘At the party.’
‘What’s happened?’
‘Olivia’s collapsed. I can’t wake her up.’
‘Why’s she collapsed?’
‘I don’t know,’ Elise said wildly, ‘I don’t know, she just… she just fell down.’
‘Call an ambulance-’
‘But-’
‘Elise, listen, call an ambulance and tell them exactly what happened. Stay with Olivia. Do whatever they tell you. Yes?’
‘Mum-’
‘I’m coming. What number is it?’
‘Sixty-four,’ she said, beginning to cry.
‘Elise, hang up and call the ambulance. Call them now.’ The line went dead.
Janet ran downstairs, heart in her mouth. She told the custody sergeant she was leaving, a family emergency, and to inform Noel Perry’s solicitor to attend the following morning at 9am for a 24-hour superintendent review. At that point, all being well, they’d be granted another twelve hours to talk to the Perrys, and if they needed yet more time then they’d go to court to apply for a further thirty-six hours.
Thankfully the lights were with her all the way as she drove as quickly as she dared to the address Elise had given her. Reaching the avenue – a development of upmarket three- and four-bedroom modern houses, with open-plan gardens – she saw the ambulance was already there and a patrol car as well. People outside the house, party-goers, Janet assumed, were drifting away in small groups.